ABSTRACT
The second category of factors at the co-institutionalization level is the category of knowledge and technology. Knowledge and technology are often perceived as a main source of innovation. Knowledge and technology can enable inventions, new designs, production processes and marketing activities. Technological development can push customers into new directions. Today's industry seems to be on the threshold of being part of a sustainable society, a society that is based on recycling of materials, sustainable aesthetics and environmental philosophies of product usage, use of infinite energy sources and clean production processes. Technological development is an ongoing process in modern society, and firms are part of this process. Large multinational firms are continuously seeking new products and services that will provide turnover for the next couple of years. In addition to having their own research laboratories, they can also invest in relationships with universities and gain access to professors and academic research staff. They can form R&D consortia in which firms, authorities and universities bundle resources to develop knowledge and technology in fundamental and applied areas. In modern Western industry, knowledge flows from firm to government to university and vice versa. These knowledge-transfer processes provide university researchers with the latest insights into societal needs and demands. It enables the government to fund research that has societal urgency. These knowledge-transfer processes give firms the opportunity to develop future markets and to contribute to large-scale delivery of new sustainable technologies. With respect to sustainability, there can be a growing need for an integration of eco-innovative and sustainable thinking in existing and new product-and service-production processes. Ongoing knowledge production and technological development stimulate organizations at the co-innovation level to grow their eco- and sustainably innovative businesses toward mass production and consumption. Knowledge and technology are the second element at the co-institutionalization level of the model of eco-innovation and sustainability management (see Figure 10.1)
